Chapter 305 : Behave Yourself
The conditions on Merperson Island were truly limited, especially for those cultivators unable to recover their spiritual power. Besides healing their flesh wounds, there was nothing else they could do. Therefore, the recuperation didn't last very long before everyone decided to leave.
Everyone gathered at the former altar site, their gazes toward Zhu Baiyi both nervous and expectant—a teleportation scroll lost for many years! Forget experiencing it firsthand; before this, no one had even seen one. Even though the destination was likely to be within Nine Abyss Sect, breaking out from there would still be safer than traversing the deep sea again.
They would soon be able to leave, and their lost cultivation would be restored. Just thinking about it gave them countless reassurances.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Zhu Baiyi scanned the crowd once, then without a word, cleanly tore open the teleportation scroll. White light suddenly blazed from the tear in the scroll, so bright it dazzled the eyes, leaving only whiteness in one's vision.
Jiang Mo was also momentarily blinded by the white light and instinctively closed her eyes, but her hand immediately grabbed the hand of the person beside her. The soft, boneless hand was gripped by her, and after a moment's hesitation, the other person returned her grasp... The teleportation process was actually very quick, just enough time for this small gesture, and then Jiang Mo felt the light before her eyes dim.
In just one breath, everyone had changed locations.
The environmental change was obvious; even without opening their eyes, everyone could sense it clearly—the heavy moisture that had constantly surrounded them on the island was gone, as was the scorching heat of the Southern Sea. The surrounding environment was now cold and damp.
Jiang Mo opened her eyes immediately, but before she could clearly see her surroundings, she first felt a terrifying pressure spreading in all directions.
This pressure was somewhat familiar to Jiang Mo; she had felt it on Zhu Baiyi when they had gone to capture spirit beasts at sea together. It was the unique pressure of a Grand Achievement cultivator. At present, they could be considered on the same side, but in an unfamiliar environment, she still instinctively tightened her grip, trying to pull Senior Sister closer to protect her.
However, her pull didn't move Yun Qingyue, who stood firmly and showed no intention of seeking protection from others. She directly released her hand from Jiang Mo's grasp. As Jiang Mo felt the emptiness in her heart, she also clearly saw the situation before her.
This was a spacious stone chamber, completely empty inside, and the sudden appearance of hundreds of people instantly filled it to capacity. No one dared to speak rashly, fearing to disturb something, but the appearance of these people itself was conspicuous enough. The people originally guarding the stone chamber waiting for news immediately noticed and pushed open the door with a "boom."
"Elder..." The newcomer's words abruptly ceased when he realized there were rather too many people in the stone chamber.
Nine Abyss Sect had only sent fifty or sixty people onto the ghost ship, and even including their spies embedded in various sects, they wouldn't exceed seventy. But now the people in the stone chamber had obviously multiplied several times, and many weren't even wearing Nine Abyss Sect attire.
This was bad—an enemy attack!
The newcomer's reaction wasn't slow; he almost immediately recognized the danger. However, from the moment he pushed open the door to the stone chamber, it was already too late—before he could utter another word, a powerful pressure suddenly enveloped him. Not only were his words forced back into his mouth, but his legs and spine couldn't withstand the pressure either. He immediately fell to his knees with a rush of blood surging in his mouth.
Who were these people? What enemies had the Elder made? Why had the Elder's teleportation scroll fallen into their hands?!
The stone chamber guard was extremely nervous, but he couldn't speak. Whenever he tried to speak against the pressure, he could feel it suddenly intensify. After several attempts, he finally couldn't endure and vomited blood with a "wah."
The instigator, Zhu Baiyi, wasn't "having an easy time" either, though not for the same reasons—mainly because there were too many people crammed into this stone chamber. Hundreds of cultivators were packed almost chest to back, leaving Zhu Baiyi barely enough room to move, let alone break free. The only fortunate thing was that, at the moment she tore open the teleportation scroll, she had pulled Qingyu to her side.
The Sect Leader harbored some small thoughts of sheltering Qingyu in her arms. Unfortunately, Qingyu's cultivation wasn't low either—though not matching Zhu Baiyi's, it far exceeded others'. Thus, the Sect Leader's plan to draw her close failed and earned her a glare in return.
Qingyu's gaze held neither embarrassment nor anger, but anyone could read three words in that look: Behave yourself!
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The group's earlier concerns weren't unfounded. When the teleportation scroll was torn open, they were indeed transported to Nine Abyss Sect territory. Fortunately, after interrogating the doorkeeper, they learned that this wasn't the core area of Nine Abyss Sect, but an underground stone chamber near the outer perimeter—this was normal, after all, the destination set by a teleportation scroll couldn't possibly be right in the heart of their stronghold, as that would easily let wolves into the house.
Learning this news, the cultivators breathed a huge sigh of relief, and someone immediately whispered: "I feel I've regained control of my spiritual power. After some rest and adjustment, I should be able to return to my peak condition."
Not just the speaker, but everyone had sensed it—after leaving Merperson Island, all restrictions had disappeared.
Cultivation and spiritual power were a cultivator's foundation. Hearing this, Zhu Baiyi knew these people felt Nine Abyss Sect was dangerous and wanted to recover some cultivation before venturing outside. But was this a place for cultivation?
Not to mention there were so many people that even the air was barely enough to share, let alone spiritual energy.
So Zhu Baiyi said in a deep voice: "Let's leave this place first, then do everything else."
The people present had different identities, but regardless, no one dared to contradict a Grand Achievement cultivator's order. So while channeling energy to recover their spiritual power, they cautiously extended exploratory steps outside the stone chamber.
Outside was a long corridor, with only two rows of torches on the stone walls illuminating the deep passage.
The lighting was certainly not good, but sufficient for cultivators with keen senses... Several cultivators dressed as Nine Abyss Sect disciples slipped out stealthily, splitting up along the corridor and carefully searching in both directions of the passage.
These people were scouts. Although leaving Nine Abyss Sect wouldn't be difficult for high-level cultivators like Zhu Baiyi, they each had their burdens—for instance, Qingyu leading the Xuanqing Sect disciples, Huineng with the Buddha Sect disciples, and even Zhu Baiyi herself had the pretext of leading Crimson Blood Sect disciples onto the ghost ship. Now, these people had become their responsibility.
Fortunately, no one had yet detected anything unusual, and the scouting cultivators went quite far without encountering anyone. The only problem was their unfamiliarity with the place—they'd gone far without meeting anyone or reaching the end of the passage, and they didn't know which direction led to the exit.
At this point, the old monk skilled in divination finally had his use. With his eyes closed, he quickly calculated with his fingers, then opened his eyes and pointed to everyone's right: "Go this way."
Buddha Sect's Dharma Master Huineng had a renowned reputation, and no one objected. They immediately headed in the right direction.
There was nothing wrong with Huineng's direction; the problem was the sheer number of people. The underground passage was naturally extremely quiet, and even though everyone tried to be discreet, the collective sound of hundreds of people breathing and walking was not insignificant. So as they walked, they suddenly noticed an opening in the stone wall beside them, with someone standing inside, their eyes meeting those of the group.
Both those outside the wall and the person inside experienced a moment of confusion. Then quickly, the cultivators who had escaped here realized—that opening in the stone wall wasn't a crack at all, but a door so well-hidden that had the other party not pushed it open, they might have passed by without ever discovering there was a secret chamber inside!
"There's..." The person inside the chamber came to his senses and was about to shout.
With hundreds of lives at stake, the cultivators naturally wouldn't wait passively. The man's shout only managed one word before being silenced. Then several people moved swiftly, quickly binding him securely, with the practiced efficiency of habitual offenders.
Only then did Zhu Baiyi step forward. She glanced at the indignant captive on the ground, then at the open stone door beside them. She looked particularly carefully through the stone door and saw that the chamber contained many cages of various sizes, from ones large enough for a tiger to ones barely big enough for a rabbit. However, these cages contained neither tigers nor rabbits, but various strange spirit beasts.
The Sect Leader only took one look before withdrawing her gaze, while also pulling back Qingyu who was about to look: "That's enough, don't look. It's just some spirit beasts, extremely ugly—I'm afraid they'd hurt your eyes."
Hearing this, Qingyu pulled her hand free and still peered in: "Let me take a look."
And indeed, that one look did repulse Qingyu. The caged spirit beasts were not only strange, but they also emanated malice, resentment, and death. Because of this, the atmosphere in the stone chamber was extremely eerie, and those ugly spirit beasts didn't look like spirit beasts at all, but more like demonic beasts from another world... Everyone instinctively felt uncomfortable and quickly backed away.
Jiang Mo took the opportunity to glance into the stone chamber as well, but compared to others' shock and disgust, she was much calmer. Thus, her glance revealed more than others saw. For instance, those caged spirit beasts didn't appear to be naturally mutated, but rather looked like experimental subjects, making this stone chamber a crude laboratory. Additionally, the patterns on the chamber floor were strange, resembling some kind of formation, though its purpose was unclear.
The illiterate tiger didn't understand formations, but she had a knowledgeable Senior Sister, so she specifically pulled Yun Qingyue over to look: "Senior Sister, look at the floor below—is it engraved with some kind of formation?"
Yun Qingyue glanced over those ugly beasts in the cages without even lifting her eyelids.
But Jiang Mo wasn't wrong. After a brief scan, Yun Qingyue immediately confirmed: "There is indeed a formation. However, I'm not well-versed in this field and can't immediately tell what the formation is for."
Hearing this, Jiang Mo immediately said: "It's alright, I've recorded this formation. We can examine it carefully later."
Memorizing a formation was impossible, but having the system take a snapshot was a matter of seconds.